Copper tubing and plastic pipe used for standard plumbing purposes are typically cut to length and joined by fittings to conform to various configurations, and to receive various flow-controlling apparatus. Copper tubing is generally joined by copper fittings. Such fittings are connected to the tubing by soldering. Plastic fittings, used with plastic tubing are secured by adhesive. In both soldering and gluing procedures it is recommended that the tube ends be abraded to clean the outside surfaces, and to slightly roughen the surface texture to accept the solder or glue. The inside surfaces of the fittings are also similarly abraded. Paste or a preparatory material is then applied to the tube end to assure acceptance of the solder or glue about the complete circumference of the joint to assure that no leaks will occur when the joint is assembled.
The typical process used to clean either form of pipe is to manually rub the external pipe end and mating surface of the fitting with an abrasive material such as abrasive paper, steel wool, abrasive pads or cloths, etc. Next a preparatory paste or flux is applied to the joint before the pieces are fitted together for soldering or, in the case of plastic pipe, before the glue is applied to the prepared male end of the tube. When considering the number of fittings and joints to be applied at the typical work site, the cleaning and preparatory process represents a significant amount of time.
It therefore becomes desirable to obtain some form of apparatus that will quickly and effectively clean tube ends at a high rate of speed while assuring that the entire circumference of the tubular workpiece is effectively cleaned.
As an attempted solution, a tube abrading tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,867. This tool includes a handle enclosing a battery pack fitted about an electrical motor. The motor includes a drive shaft that extends to opposite sides of the motor. One end of the drive shaft is connected directly to a male abrader drum and the opposite drive shaft is connected to a female abrasive member. Both abrasive members are wire brushes. There is no provision, other than changing the abrading members, for adapting the tool to different size tubing. The motor and the radially oriented battery mounts, substantially enlarge the diameter of the handle, which would be fairly difficult for the user to grasp. The length of the tool with the motor being situated between the two abrasive members is such that the unit could not effectively be used in confined quarters, as between studs or joists where tubing ends are typically situated. Even assuming the motor could develop sufficient torque to directly drive the cleaning devices, the overall length dimension of the apparatus severely limits its utility at in situ construction.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,436,783, 3,187,361, 3,343,192 and 4,433,448, each disclose pipe cleaning devices that also include cleaning brushes mounted to the ends of motor drive shafts or in which the cleaning brushes are axially arranged axially in relation to the overall length dimension of the tool. Use of the cleaners shown in these references is limited by their overall lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,003 discloses a pipe thread cleaning device that makes use of a number of rotating cleaning brushes connected to a housing. The brushes are mounted to a rotating head which is driven by an angularly offset driving device. The operating handle, however, is offset both from the rotating cleaning wheels and the drive apparatus. The overall construction is therefore relatively bulky and no provision is made for cleaning internal surfaces of the pipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,588 discloses a portable device that is intended for use in general household cleaning. To this end, the disclosure specifically relates to a drive that oscillates or reciprocates selected attached implements. No disclosure is made with regard to features that would enable the device to clean the entire external periphery of tubing ends, or the interior periphery of a tubing fitting.
Even with the above apparatus, a need remains for a tool that will quickly and effectively clean fittings and tubing ends, such as copper and plastic pipe, especially in common situations where the tubing ends are located with exposed ends situated in confined areas.